


First Afternoon

by Regina_Wren



Category: Glee
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-08
Updated: 2011-04-08
Packaged: 2019-10-09 09:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17404148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regina_Wren/pseuds/Regina_Wren
Summary: Kurt's first afternoon as someone's boyfriend.





	First Afternoon

He wasn’t sure how long they kissed, how long they melted together, all soft lips and warm hands. It could have been hours. Kurt could have stayed there for years.

Eventually Blaine broke the kiss, but his eyes stayed on Kurt, even as he pulled away. 

Kurt was grateful he was sitting down. His knees felt like jelly.

"Um..." Blaine said. "That wasn't actually what I came here to do. I was... going to tell you after we got to the choir room." His face was flushed and his eyes were bright, and Kurt was captivated by the sight.

Although seeing Blaine so awkward and flustered would have been much more satisfying if he wasn't feeling the same way.

Choir room. Right. Regionals. Reality crept slowly back into Kurt's kiss-addled brain. He took a deep breath.

The sounds of Dalton Academy were all around them: dishes clattering in the kitchen, footsteps passing in the hallway outside, and birds chirping beyond the window. He wanted to kiss Blaine again, but he was also aware of the fact that they were still at school, where someone could walk in on them at any moment. And Kurt really did want to win Regionals in two days time. While he had no doubts about his ability to memorize lyrics and performance, he still wanted to run through their song at least once or twice before he went on stage.

He sighed. "You're right. We should practice." After a moment Kurt added, "Singing."

Blaine laughed and glanced down at the table between them. His cheeks were still pink. Kurt's stomach flipped over. I kissed Blaine, a voice said in his head.

"Do you want help cleaning up?"

Kurt stared at the table, only now remembering what he had been doing before Blaine found him. For once he'd completely forgotten about Pavarotti.

"Please," he said.

They probably didn't need to stand so close to tidy up Kurt's supplies, nor did their hands need to brush as often as they did, but it was nice.

_I kissed Blaine!_

Even Pavarotti's casket couldn't dampen Kurt's spirits too much at the moment.

Once everything was stowed away in Kurt's bag again, Blaine took his hand.

"Come on," he said with a soft – almost shy – smile.

Kurt's mind went back to the first day he had met Blaine, how this handsome, dark-eyed boy had grabbed his hand for the first time and dragged him through the school to sing to him. But now Kurt could hold his hand in turn, could wrap his fingers around the broad palm in his. 

His heart fluttered a little as they walked from the dining hall, their linked hands a comfortable weight between them. He wasn't embarrassed by it and he certainly didn't want to let go, but he was very aware that if anyone saw them now they would know that he and Blaine were... that Blaine was his... well, that Blaine was his.

Kurt glanced over and caught Blaine's eyes on him.

I kissed Blaine!

"So, does this mean you want me to be your boyfriend now?"

A flicker of self-consciousness crossed Blaine's face before he ducked his head. It was sort of charming to see his self-confident mask disintegrate so completely. "Would you like to be?"

Kurt tightened his fingers around Blaine's hand, reveling in how warm and solid it felt in his clasp. "I would love to be your boyfriend."

Blaine's face lit up. "Okay," he said, only a little breathless.

Kurt was sure his own smile was just as wide.

 

When Kurt had tried out for _Defying Gravity_ it was mainly to show Rachel up and prove that she wasn't the only talented diva in the room. And also because he thought he understood Elphaba in a way Rachel never would.

But he'd never really known what it was like to feel so much, so intensely, that the entire world just fell away and he found he could suddenly fly.

When he and Blaine sang _Candles_ that afternoon he understood. 

The song Blaine had chosen wasn't really a love song, but somehow it was for them anyway. Possibly the strangest love song Kurt had ever heard, but wasn't going to complain. Not when Blaine sang, "I'm beginning to see the light," with so much passion.

Every dream, every wish, and every moment of joy that Blaine had given him, poured into the song, and he knew even before they finished that with this song, between the two of them, they could win.

Blaine's smile and the look in his eyes reminded Kurt of their Christmas duet, but it meant so much more this time, because now Kurt knew the feelings were real for both of them. Their flirty glances and smiles weren't just an act anymore, and as he sang, Kurt felt his voice lift him to a place he hadn't even dreamed he could reach. 

He knew they could win, because where they stood now, no other song could touch them.

Afterwards, for the first time, they kissed each other goodbye.

 

Ever since he was five years old, Kurt had known he was different. For most of that time he had liked being different. He didn't think much of the other boys rolling in dirt or kicking balls around like it was the height of sophistication, so he was happy to be different.

It started off with "sissy," which didn't bother him. Kurt just stayed with the girls in his class and embraced the word. Next was "freak." He didn't mind that word either. In fact, if it distanced him from the moron who threw the word, he gladly embraced it too. Finally, there was "fag." Finally, a word found its target. Finally, a word hurt.

But Kurt held his head high, carrying him above the insults and leaving his tormentors behind where they belonged.

Mostly he loved his uniqueness. Mostly he didn't want to be like anyone else, and certainly not if everyone else was as classless as the boys he was surrounded by.

Only sometimes, in his heart of hearts, did he want to be like everyone else, to just feel normal for a change. After all, he was still only human.

 

The knowledge was too great to contain. He was bubbling over with it, had to share it, or he was sure he was going to explode into a million tiny pieces of glitter.

At a traffic light heading out of Westerville, Kurt finally decided he couldn’t take it anymore. He pulled out his phone and set on his headset.

"Yo! What up?" a bright voice answered.

Kurt's almost bounced in his seat. "Oh my god, Mercedes! You will not believe what just happened!"

"Is this about Regionals?" Mercedes asked. "'Cause I thought we agreed not to talk about that."

"It's not about Regionals," Kurt told her. "Well, it is, but not directly."

He heard Mercedes pause on her end.

"Hang on," she said. "I'm with Rachel. If this is good news, she could do with some of that."

"What happened to Rachel?" Despite his soaring feelings, Kurt was immediately concerned.

"Something Quinn said to her. Tell you later."

Kurt heard the unspoken word - Finn - and let it go. "All right. I may as well tell you both at the same time."

A few moments later Rachel's voice sounded over the line. "Hi, Kurt," she said with a slight sniffle. "Please say Blaine finally came to his senses and asked you out."

Kurt's jaw went slack just as the lights changed. He was stunned enough that he took a moment to turn for the city limits before he could reply.

"How did you guess?"

The line erupted in his ear.

"Oh my God!" Mercedes cried.

"I knew it!" Rachel started laughing, a strange hiccupping laugh that still had tears in it, but was no less joyful for that.

Kurt's smile returned to his face. He'd been planning a dramatic: "Girls, I just got my first kiss!" because Brittany didn't count and Karofsky he didn't even want to think about, but this reaction was good enough.

"Actually he said I moved him, and then he kissed me."

There was a squeak on the other end, probably from Rachel, because Mercedes was asking: "What was it like?"

Kurt took one hand off the steering wheel to touch his lips. He thought he could still feel them tingle. "It was amazing. It was perfect."

"Oh, Kurt," said Rachel. "I'm so happy for you."

She sounded like she meant it too, and Kurt's chest warmed. "Just don't tell Finn. I don't want him saying anything before I get home."

"Oh, I'm not planning on talking to him tonight," she said, a hint of pain in her voice.

He sobered. "Rachel..."

But she brushed him off. "It's fine. At least, I got a song out of it. Now, spill! Tell us everything!"

"Yeah," Mercedes backed her up. "All the juicy details."

Kurt let himself focus on his own feelings of flying high again. It wasn't hard. _I kissed Blaine_ was still playing on repeat in his head. "All right. Well, remember how I told you Pavarotti died and I sang _Blackbird_ in Glee Club?"

The whole story, except duet details, tumbled out of him as he drove towards the sunset, with Rachel and Mercedes adding comments, excitement, and support over the phone. As they spoke, for the first time all year, Kurt felt like a normal teenager, gushing with his girlfriends about his first kiss. Just like any other teenager.

As much as he liked being different, belonging was a good feeling too.

 

Kurt's mother had died in the spring.

He remembered the budding flowers everywhere and the bird song just as well as he remembered the emptiness where she should have been.

So much for spring bringing new life.

But it had changed something in Kurt: made him tougher, more independent. He didn't have a mother to encourage him anymore. But he did have a father who was living proof of what a man could take on in the world.

What Kurt remembered most clearly however from that spring, was his dad's hand when he stepped in and did his best to take over. One touch that gave him hope again.

Kurt came out of that first year without a mother as a slightly changed person, but he liked to think that it was a person who knew how strong he could be when he was called on. Just like his father. It didn't shake who he knew he was. It just built him up taller and stronger than before. The final lesson his mother taught him. He liked to think it helped carry him through the hard times.

With the anniversary of her death coming up, Kurt wanted to find a resting place for Pavarotti that was as much like hers as he could find: somewhere under a tree, where the new buds were just waiting to blossom.

 

As a rule, Kurt was not a fan of sitting down for dinner still in his school uniform, but when he got home with ten minutes to spare before dinner, that was in no way near enough time for him to pick out and change into a new outfit.

Even his father knew that.

"Practice run late today?" his father asked when Kurt arrived at the table.

"Practicing for Regionals," Kurt confirmed. "We only just worked out our set list." But he didn't sit down yet. The butterflies in his belly kept him on his toes.

"Oh hey, so did we!" Finn said. Oblivious to whatever it was that had got Rachel so upset, he just kept piling food onto his plate like he was going hungry.

Kurt didn't reply. They couldn't talk about their respective schools' chances at Regionals, and he didn't want to talk about Rachel and Quinn right now either. He had something much more important on his mind.

Kurt's dad looked up at where Kurt was still hovering behind his chair. "Something else you wanted to say?"

"Actually, yes." The butterflies in his stomach took flight all at once. Excitement and nerves were all tangled up together inside him, and Kurt couldn't tell anymore where one ended and the next began. He took a breath. "Blaine and I are dating. As of today."

"Oh, honey," Carole reached over to give his hand a squeeze. "I'm happy for you. That's wonderful news." She turned to Kurt's dad. "Isn't that wonderful news?"

Kurt held his breath. At least Carole was on his side, but if his father disapproved it would break his heart. 

For a moment his dad didn't react much at all, taking the vegetable platter from Finn, and adding broccoli to his plate. Then he shrugged. "Sure," he said. "Can't say I'm surprised though."

"What?" Kurt pulled out his chair and sank into it. "Why not?"

Then he remembered Rachel's crowing over the phone. Not to mention the way Jeff had grinned at him on his way out of the school. Or the way Wes had smiled yesterday during practice.

"Are Blaine and I the only ones who didn't see this coming?" Sure he'd kept hoping, but he knew better now than to expect anything.

Blaine certainly hadn't been acting any differently this week, but then, Kurt hadn't really been paying all that much attention after Pavarotti died. He wasn't particularly close to any of the other Warblers, but he thought either Nick or Jeff would have said something to him if it had been that obvious.

Kurt's dad leaned forward. "Kurt, the kid came to me singing your praises. I figured it was only a matter of time."

Kurt wasn't sure what to reply to that. He numbly took the vegetable platter when it was passed to him.

"As long as he makes you happy," his father added, "I got no complaints."

Kurt thought of birds and duets and kisses on school grounds. A knot coiled up in his chest, full of everything he was feeling: nerves, joy, disbelief, a strange pounding knot so intense he knew that if he let it loose he would start crying.

_I kissed Blaine! I kissed a boy. A boy who is Blaine. And it was incredible because he is incredible!_

"He does," Kurt said out loud. "Make me happy."

From the looks around the table, no one doubted that.

Finn offered him a fist. Kurt wanted to roll his eyes but bumped his own fist against Finn's anyway. He obviously meant well with the gesture.

Kurt didn't bother trying to tone down his smile for the rest of dinner.

 

Kurt was still walking on clouds by the time he went to bed.

He could still feel Blaine's gentle hand on his face, and the lips covering his.

He felt like singing. He felt like he could fly. With a pang he missed Pavarotti all over again.

Two shining stars peeked through a gap in Kurt's curtains, and his eyes fixed on them as he lay in the dark. He couldn't remember anymore how many years he'd dreamt of finding a boyfriend. At least as long as all the other kids around him were dating. All he knew was that the isolation he'd always felt with the dream was now replaced by a burning, impossible warmth in his stomach. He had a boy in his life who liked him back. An incredible, handsome boy, who wasn't perfect but was still everything Kurt had dreamt up, and that was perfect enough for him.

When Kurt finally drifted off to sleep that night it was with the knowledge that today was a new beginning for him. The beginning of something amazing.


End file.
